
Originally Posted by
Duffy
Maybe this topic is too old for a response. But, I've photographed women for many, many years and i feel compelled to add my two cents. First of all, no photographer I've ever known has contracted with a model for services. Th relationship between photog and model is just too casual and ephemeral for contracts. The most important legal document connecting photographer and model is the model release. It spells out how the pictures can be used [as opposed to how they'll be used, because the photographer, if he's shooting on "spec" or for himself, may not know at the end of a session exactly how the photography will be used, if he is able to sell it at some point in time in the future. A release primarily gives the photographer the right to use his art as he sees fit. It also specifies how much the model is being paid for her services. If she is being paid. Trading services for copies of the photographs is a perfectly legitimate way of paying a model. Even with this arrangement a signed release is a must. On many occasions I've been hired by a woman to photograph her.
I had them sign a release even under these circumstances. One never always knows how the collaboration betwen photographer and model will ultimately work out. A release protects both the model and the artist. No legitimate publication [including an online one] will buy photography without a signed release. However, a photographer does not need a release to publicly exhibit a model's photograph. I started photographing women in the late-60's and to this day I keep releases for every picture of a model i've ever taken. A serious photographer, even an amateur, will never give away his negatives or tranparencies, in the case of color slides. They are the only medum he has for reproducing his art. When rights to a photograph are sold the sale is only for the right to publish a particular photograph in a specific way in a specific part of the world. Sorry for the long and detailed posting, but I just want to save everyone here who is intersted a lot of grief.
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